Ranina propinqua Ristori, 1891: 11-14

Pasini, Giovanni & Garassino, Alessandro, 2018, Critical review of fossil record of Ranina Lamarck, 1801 (Decapoda, Brachyura, Raninidae), with description of Tethyranina n. gen., Natural History Sciences 5 (2), pp. 3-12 : 9

Ranina propinqua Ristori, 1891: 11-14 , Pl. 1, figs. 4-7 (il- lustrated as mirrored).

Ranina propinqua – Lőrenthey 1898: 137. – Fabiani 1910: 9. – Glaessner 1929: 363. – De Angeli & Garassino 2006: 38. – Manni 2006: 108, fig. 38. – De Angeli et al. 2009: 120, 121. – Schweitzer et al. 2010: 74. – Pasini & Garassino 2010: 116. – De Angeli & Beschin 2011: 13, 15, 17. – Van Bakel et al. 2012: 209. – Pasini, Garassino & De Angeli in Baldanza et al. 2014: 274, 276, fig. 6A-E2. – Garassino et al. 2014: 122, fig. 1F. – Karasawa et al. 2014: 260. – Famiani et al. 2015: 342-344, fig. 4A-D.

Hela propinqua – Lőrenthey in Lőrenthey & Beurlen 1929: 109.

Diagnosis: as for the genus.

Type material: MPUR i.543.

Type locality: Città della Pieve (Perugia, Umbria, central Italy) .

Type age: early Pleistocene (Gelasian-Calabrian).

Examined material: Holotype and three additional specimens: MUSNAF 7075 , from the early Pleistocene of Fabro Scalo (Terni, Umbria); MSNM i28012, from the early Pleistocene of Orzalume-Cottano ( Orvieto , Umbria); MSNM i2787, from late Pleistocene Trumbacà ( Reggio Calabria, Calabria).

Description (see Pasini, Garassino & De Angeli in Baldanza et al., 2014).

Discussion. Ristori (1891) described R. propinqua based on a sole well-preserved female specimen from Città della Pieve (Perugia, Umbria, Italy). Later, Pasini, Garassino & De Angeli in Baldanza et al. (2014) and Famiani et al. (2015) reported additional specimens of this species from Fabro Scalo (Terni, Umbria, Italy) and Orzalume-Cottano (Orvieto, Umbria, Italy), revising this poorly known species. Moreover, Bizzarri & Baldanza (2009) attested that the fossiliferous area reported by Ristori (1891) has to be referred to early Pleistocene (Gelasian-Calabrian). Garassino et al. (2014: 122, fig 1F) reported also R. propinqua from the late Pleistocene of Trumbacà (Reggio Calabria, southern Italy).

All the specimens reported cannot be assigned to Ranina since they lack the distinctive characters for the genus, whereas the combination of the triangular rostrum with anterolateral spines respectively bifid and trifid are typical of Tethyranina n. gen. to which the specimens are assigned.